There were no signs of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) backing off from its protest at Bord Bia’s head offices in Ballsbridge, Dublin as the Irish Farmers Journal was going to print.

Tuesday saw a group of IFA protesters make their way into the lobby area of the building, a move that Bord Bia said had been pulled off under false pretences.

Wednesday marked day 10 of the protest that is seeking the removal of Larry Murrin from his role as Bord Bia chair as 14 IFA members remained inside the building while others took up position outside.

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“I call on the IFA to de-escalate this latest action and allow their members the space to listen to the details of this matter be debated in the Oireachtas over the course of this week,” Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said of protesters entering the building.

Minister Heydon made clear his views of the IFA’s protests last week in the Dáil, when he accused the IFA of playing a “considerable part in damaging Bord Bia’s reputation” and claimed that the IFA is refusing to allow its own county and committee chairs to hear Murrin out.

IFA president Francie Gorman spoke to protesters on Tuesday, saying that “this is a ground-driven campaign to get rid of the chairman because there’s no confidence in him,” and that “we want a resolution to this, that’s why we’re here.”

The IFA’s tillage chair John ‘Boiler’ Murphy claimed that the protest is “going to escalate every day from here on” until Murrin is replaced as Bord Bia chair.

The IFA has insisted that the “core issue here is the restoration of confidence among farmers.”

“The person who holds the chair will have to rebuild trust, as Bord Bia cannot survive without farmers,” the IFA told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“The IFA protest over the last 10 days has brought a focus on what farmers contribute to Bord Bia,” it said on the Bord Bia factory levy.

“As it’s a statutory levy, any change to the levy would require legislative change.”